


Best Served Warm

by andchaos



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, College, Crossover, F/F, Fluff, Future Fic, not really an AU just in the future, technically canon compliant if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 16:20:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6812971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andchaos/pseuds/andchaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Kira leaves Beacon Hills, she winds up at university that just so happens to have a coffee shop across the street. And that coffee shop just so happens to have a beautiful girl that works every morning when Kira comes in for her regular.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best Served Warm

**Author's Note:**

> i'm totally not caught up on teen wolf so it's a little vague lmao. also....this has nothing to do with how much i love the arden/kat dynamic....not at all....i would never
> 
> enjoy xoxo

          Kira had a thing about college. Well, two things really.

          For one, she had never really gotten over leaving her friends in Beacon Hills. She wasn’t afraid of them forgetting about her (the matching tattoos they had gotten as a pack certainly hadn’t _helped_ , and she felt it constantly even after the initial pain had subsided, a pressing weight against her ribs), but there was still something distantly aching in her gut that came from leaving her pack, even after all the time that had passed since then. A year—Kira had lasted a year without them. She had barely had two years _with_ them, and now she had lasted half that time without. Somewhere deep inside, Kira thought that she had known, really, even back when she had first met them—they were people she would carry with her for the rest of her life. She had Facetime and Skype and text messages and enough social media accounts to basically keep her updated every time one of them so much as left their bed, but it was different, being away. She felt them like a talisman in her chest and they were never getting out.

          The second thing was that it was so good to be free.

          She hadn’t had a lot of freedom in high school. It was understandable, really, because she had only been, well, _in high school_ , but she thought that she had deserved a little more leeway than she had gotten; after all, she had also saved the world (or at least the town) from destruction more than once, and she was a mythical creature who carried a sword on her at all times, so she really thought she deserved a bit of freedom to make her own choices from time to time

          As it turned out, her own choices led to another thing about Kira. That _thing_ happened to be a _thing_ she had for someone who served her a frappuccino every morning without fail at nine a.m. from the Java Hut across the street from her history class.

          Kira pushed her way inside just that Java Hut at nine sharp on a brisk October morning, and it was the same as ever: Packed, with a line out the door, and loud enough that Kira couldn’t discern any one conversation over another. Above the crowd, she saw a telltale shock of red hair from behind the counter and she smiled privately to herself as she got into line behind a couple that was bickering quietly with one another.

          She knew she was starting to run late as the minutes ticked down on her watch and she shuffled closer and closer to the counter. Too many people came here before their classes started (the irony that she was part of the problem was not lost on Kira) and as she only had five minutes to get to the front, order, wait for her frapp, and hustle to class, there was no way she was making it on time. She clucked her tongue softly and shook her head, even as the nerves started to overtake her. People were going to stare as she came in late for the third time this week, and it was only Thursday. She was lucky her dad was basically a twenty-four hour study guide, or she would have failed five times over already.

          Finally, she was up near the register. Instantly, all of her concerns about passing history flew out the window as she cleared her throat and did her best to keep a cool face as she looked up and met the barista’s gaze.

          Clary was wearing the same open smile she always wore around Kira, who couldn’t tell whether it was genuine or the same one she gave to every customer that came through, her best sincere-service-with-a-smile smile. If it was the latter, she pulled it off well; Kira’s heart fluttered at the thought that it might be the former.

          “Hi Clary,” said Kira, her gaze falling down at the countertop before bouncing back up to meet Clary’s own.

          “Good morning, Kira,” Clary said brightly. “How’s your day going?”

          Kira groaned softly. “It’s nine in the morning and I’m late for class. So it’s sucking, basically. What about you?”

          “Not bad,” she said. Her fingers were punching in Kira’s usual order without her having to give it. Something grew warm in Kira’s stomach as she watched Clary work the register. “Better now that I have your smiling face to get me through the day.”

          Kira startled a laugh. She felt her cheeks coloring. “You mean the sleep-deprived bags under my eyes and this early-morning scowl? I don’t think I’m capable of helping anyone through anything today.”

          Clary’s smiled softened to a faint glow, but it was present nonetheless. “You’re helping me,” she said.

          Just then, a blond boy with mismatched-colored eyes stuck his head around the corner from the back room and called something to Clary, who turned and waved her hand at him to signal that she had heard. The faint warmth in Kira’s core dimmed.

          “He’s pretty,” she said distantly. She refused to define that as jealousy in her tone.

          Clary glanced behind her like she couldn’t fathom who Kira was talking about for a moment. As Clary pressed a button to open up the cash drawer and turned back to her, Kira saw that Clary seemed nonplussed.

          “I guess,” she said. “Jace is a family friend of mine.”

          Robotically, Kira handed over a couple of dollars to pay for her drink. There was a silence as Clary handed back her change, and something in it demanded to be filled. Kira belatedly wondered if she had sounded interested in Clary’s handsome coworker. He was too…built for Kira’s taste. She knew he was good-looking, but she liked people like Scott, lean in his muscles, and obviously gentle and sweet; or like Clary, soft and strong and bright as sunshine.

          Kira jutted her chin out slightly. Clary opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Kira blurted out, “Do you want to go out to dinner with me tonight?”

          Immediately, she blushed deeply again. Jesus, she was the least subtle person on the planet. She really wanted Cory’s camouflage ability right about now. She supposed she could scorch this place to the ground instead, but that way didn’t seem as fitting to her desires to slink into the shadows.

          “Oh,” Clary said. Kira fought the urge to run away even harder. “I, uhm…I’d love to.”

          Kira blinked at her, sure that she had misheard. “What?”

          “I would love to,” Clary repeated.

          “I mean in a date way,” Kira clarified, bewildered.

          When Clary giggled, her face scrunched up so adorably that Kira found the last of her tension receding somewhat, even if the confusion remained.

          “Is that a yes?” Kira asked at last.

          Clary held a finger up towards her. “Give me one second,” she said. Before Kira could react, Clary disappeared into the back room.

          The people in line behind Kira, which had grown increasingly impatient as she had carried on her conversation, were outright grumbling now. Displeased with the negative attention directed towards her, Kira shifted uncomfortably between her feet until Clary returned. Immediately, Kira spotted the apology written in the crinkled lines in her forehead.

          “I have—something,” said Clary. “Tonight, I mean.”

          “Oh,” said Kira. Even she knew that it sounded more hurt than surprised. “I…That’s fine. I mean, I understand.”

          “No, no, no!” said Clary. She reached a hand over the counter as though to grip Kira’s arm as she turned away, then seemed to think better of it and let her palm drop down with an audible smack, and she drew her arm back to her side. “I just mean, I can’t tonight. Are you free tomorrow?”

          Kira turned back towards her, expression clearing instantly. She was silent for a few seconds before she fully absorbed Clary’s acceptance.

          “Oh. _Oh_. I’m—yeah, that works out perfectly.” She swallowed, trying to get herself back under control. “I have homework tonight anyway that I should probably be doing.”

          “Okay.” Clary’s smile was warmth and sunshine again. “I get off at seven-thirty tomorrow. I can meet you outside the shop.”

          “Okay,” said Kira. Across the counter, someone called out her name. Kira managed a last smile back at Clary as she retreated, even as someone else stepped up to fill the spot Kira had vacated next to the counter. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

          Clary leaned over to watch her back away, and she offered up a small wave.

          “See you tomorrow, Kira.”

          Kira was twelve minutes late to class. She tucked her grin into her chest as she hurried to her seat in the back row.

 

\- - -

 

          Seven-thirty took a long time to come around. Kira spent three hours with Lydia on video chat, getting makeup and outfit advice, and then Stiles butted in to give her some extremely suspect assistance on dating (Kira immediately resolved to the do the opposite of whatever Stiles said, seeing as he was terrible with women and people in general. When she told him this, he accepted it with good grace and firm acknowledgement.) and even when she hung up, she had another forty-five minutes to kill before she needed to meet Clary. She managed to scrape out a little bit of her math homework before doing up her laces and heading out the door.

          Java Hut wasn’t far from her dorm room, and the evening was nice enough out that Kira didn’t need more than the light jacket that she was sporting, so she decided to walk down to the coffee shop instead of catching one of the buses that ran through campus. She was wearing her sword-belt too, but that was more out of habit than precaution. Besides, it happened to look really good with her outfit.

          Clary wasn’t outside when Kira arrived, but she saw her through the big front window, sweeping up while Jace stacked chairs upside-down on the tables. When she saw Kira waiting, she waved and flashed her two fingers, which Kira took to mean she would be out in two minutes. Kira leaned against the wall beside the entrance and tapped her foot as she waited, to the beat of a song she had heard on the radio somewhere.

          It was just over a few minutes later that Clary came through the door. She wasn’t wearing her work shirt anymore, but had dispensed of that, her apron, and her Java Hut hat in favor of a tight t-shirt and a leather jacket. Kira stared for a minute when she saw her.

          “Wow.”

          Clary glanced down. “What?”

          “Nothing,” said Kira. “I just don’t see you out of your work apron and hat, like, ever. It’s…you look really good.”

          Clary smiled. “Thanks. So do you.”

          They set off walking down the street towards where the restaurants were situated, even though they hadn’t explicitly picked out a place to go.

          “Did you want to go somewhere to sit-down, or…?”

          Kira shook her head. “Let’s eat outside. It’s nice out.”

          Clary agreed, so they found a sandwich shop and took their to-go bag outside. There were a few benches scattered around a field on the edge of campus, and they sat down together, pressed closer than absolutely necessary side-by-side. They didn’t have much to say, but Clary didn’t seem to mind it, looking around with open curiosity as she chewed.

          “Don’t you go here?” Kira asked as Clary took in their surroundings with more interest than any student would.

          “No,” said Clary idly. “I just work at the Hut for some extra money to go out with. I’m…I was supposed to go to Brooklyn Academy to study art. But…things got in the way.” She swallowed, and Kira immediately understood that Clary had her own story. Maybe as complicated as her own, in its own way. Clary waved her hand, and when she continued on, her tone was lighter. “So anyway, I do that now. And I work across the street from here instead. I like it; I need some structure in my schedule anyway or I’ll go completely insane.”

          Kira laughed. “Me too. Things have been unstructured for…far too long. I used to live in California, and…high school was weird.”

          Clary tilted her head. At length, she seemed to decide not to ask. Kira wondered what Clary’s secrets were that she wouldn’t push on an answer as vague and mysterious as that.

          They stayed on the bench until both of their sandwiches were finished, and then they found a trashcan to throw away their wrappers and the bag. After, they kept walking, through the field but in no particular direction. Their hands brushed every few steps. Though she had asked Clary here, she didn’t have to make the first move this time; Clary threaded her swinging fingers through Kira’s, and they smiled softly at one another.

          Clary’s hand was like the rest of her: soft and warm. They were smooth, and Clary’s grip was tight but not restrictive; it just felt secure, and Kira wondered what her hugs would be like. Something of the same thing, she imagined, just on a grander scale. She would probably be able to feel her affection all through her body. Kira wanted to know for sure, but she knew there would be time enough for all of it, if they wanted. Nothing was trying to kill her here. She felt relaxed for the first time in a long, long while.

          “So what do you study here?” Clary asked.

          Kira turned her eyes away from a firefly she had been watching to look at the side of Clary’s face. Clary turned towards her as well, and Kira saw her sincere interest in the question.

          “I’m undecided so far,” said Kira. “My dad does history at my old high school, but I’m leaning towards psychology right now. I don’t know what I want to do, but…something that helps people, I think. Therapy maybe. Maybe something else.”

          Clary leaned into her, not enough to make them stumble, but enough that Kira could feel the solid weight of her shoulder pressing into her own.

          “That sounds nice,” said Clary. She hummed softly. “You want to help people all your life?”

          _I already have been, for years_ , Kira thought, _and I’m not half bad at it._ Outside, she shrugged.

          “I think so,” she said. “I can always change my mind later.”

          “Of course you can,” said Clary, shrugging.

          “So what do you do?” Kira asked. “I mean…You were going to school for art, right?”

          “That’s right,” said Clary. “I got in, actually, to this really good school in Brooklyn. I even got some scholarships. Everything was all set up for me.”

          Kira didn’t ask what had happened. She had a feeling it was a story for another time.

          “You must be really good then,” she said instead.

          Clary giggled. “I want to be,” she said. “There’s always room for improvement, though.”

          “I’d love to see some of your stuff sometime,” Kira said eagerly. “If you would let me, I mean. It must be pretty amazing if you got into a school like that.”

          “Sure,” said Clary. Then she grinned and bumped her shoulder into Kira’s more deliberately. “Maybe for our second date.”

          Kira’s brain stalled for a second. Then she gathered herself enough to say, “Yes. Definitely then.”

          A moment later Clary tilted her face up towards the sky, and the conversation drifted away again. It didn’t feel uncomfortable, with Clary’s hand clasped in hers, swinging by their sides. Kira watched Clary as she faced the sky the way she would if there was sun to soak up, but her eyes were closed like she was doing the same thing but with the moon. She looked beautiful anyway, her long fiery hair cascading down her back in gentle waves and looping curls, silky and perfect even after spending an entire work shift with a hat crammed onto her head. Kira harbored no envy, only a gentle admiration that built the longer they walked that way.

          Clary opened her eyes after a few more steps to see where she was going, and Kira turned away so it wouldn’t seem as though she had been staring. Clary’s grip tightened infinitesimally on her fingers for a second like she knew. Somehow, Kira didn’t mind. She wanted Clary to know that she found her stunning.

          There were other ways to ensure that, though. And she did want Clary to be sure.

          “You probably get this all the time,” Kira started, “but you…I don’t know how to say this. I just thought you should know it. But youre…You’re just really, really beautiful.”

          Clary covered her mouth, but Kira heard her giggling and she saw the pink flood over her cheeks.

          “Next to you?” said Clary.

          Kira squeezed Clary’s fingers with hers.

          “Everyone must be jealous,” Clary concluded. “You and me walking around stealing all the beauty from everyone else? It’s practically unfair.”

          Now it was Kira’s turn to giggle. Clary elbowed her playfully.

          “I’m serious! Between the two of us, there’s probably not any beauty left in the world at all. It’s pretty rude of us not to share the wealth.”

          Kira pulled Clary around to a stop so they could grin at each other, and it was light and easy and Kira brushed a strand of Clary’s hair behind her ear so that she could see more of her face in the burgeoning twilight. Their noses were inches apart and Clary was still smiling with all of her teeth.

          “Too bad for the rest of the world then,” Kira breathed.

          They were close enough that Kira could hear Clary’s breath hitch.

          “Too bad,” she agreed.

          Then there was no space between them at all, and Kira’s lips were on Clary’s. They were soft too, even as they parted to catch one of Kira’s between both of hers. It was their ragged breathing and the presses of their lips, over and over as they turned their heads and played with their still-clasped fingers. Kira didn’t need to open her eyes, when the firework display of red and gold was exploding, over and over, behind her lids. She felt at home right there in Clary’s arms.

          Clary was clutching at her back with her free hand, nails digging in through her jacket. Kira weaved her fingers through Clary’s hair and kept her close, and when she retreated back by less than a hair’s breadth to pull in air, she felt the tip of Clary’s tongue brushing against her lip. Kira was going dizzy and she barely knew who she was at all, clutching at this vision of a girl and forgetting her own name.

          And then at last, at last, they pulled away. At first they didn’t do anything at all. They were still pressed together all over, and still holding hands. Kira could have stayed there forever with their foreheads almost pressed together and their eyes, shining and turned raptly on each other.

          Then, like churchbells and bluebirds’ song, Clary started to laugh. They had to pull apart, arms falling back to their sides, just so that Clary could laugh, and then Kira laughed too, and it was just their joy spilling out of them, and Kira didn’t know why they were doing it but they were and it seemed to fit, just as rightly as when fate had had her walk into Java Hut on the second day of class and just as surely as their hands fit with one another and just as good as kissing her.

          Eventually they stopped laughing. Clary’s eyes never left Kira, and Kira could feel it, even as she blushed and turned her gaze up towards where the treetops met the darkening sky. Clary didn’t let up though, and eventually Kira looked back at her and matched her smile. In that moment, Clary was luminous enough to light up the whole dusk.

 

 

          “You should have taken me home that night,” Clary says now.

          Kira turns her attention away from where she had been tracing the whorls in her dorm room’s plaster ceiling and looks over at where Clary is curled on her bed with her. Even snuggled beneath the covers as they are, Clary has freed one hand into the chill spring air to trace patterns along Kira’s arm as she tells, in a lilting voice, how she remembers what came after: How they walked back to Kira’s dorm, how Clary had had butterflies in her stomach the whole way there, how they had kissed a soft goodnight on her building’s doorstep. Her fingers and her story is rather comforting, and Kira was getting lulled towards a nap before Clary’s statement pulled her out of it. Outside the window, the moon is rising.

          “Who says I’m that kind of girl?” asks Kira.

          They grin at each other, and Kira reaches over to take Clary’s hand in hers, weaving their fingers together across her body. It pulls the covers away to expose more of her bare chest.

          “I’m very persuasive,” says Clary.

          “You are?” Kira teases.

          Clary mocks an affronted gasp and then reaches beneath the sheets to tickle at Kira’s side with the hand not caught in her grasp, and Kira shrieks a little as she twists away from her. Clary collapses back, laughing, onto the pillows.

          “Besides,” says Kira, “you had big bad shadowhunting duties to take care of the next day.”

          “True,” says Clary. Still, her bottom lip juts out a little bit. “But you didn’t know that.  And think of all the time we didn’t spend together because _you_ let me go _home_.”

          “Is that why you asked me out again as soon as the weekend was over?” Kira says, still playful. “You missed me that badly?”

          When she leans over to catch her in a kiss, Clary reciprocates in kind; but she pulls away only a few seconds later. Kira draws back, and her eyebrows knit together when she sees the wrinkles that have appeared on Clary’s forehead and the way her teeth are sunk into her bottom lip.

          “What’s wrong?” she asks. She rubs her thumb into Clary’s shoulder, soothing.

          For a moment, Clary says nothing. Then it rushes out of her:

          “Oh, what am I going to do without you when school lets out?” Clary says desperately.

          The sudden shift in her tone makes Kira frown, the ease in her chest slipping away from her instantaneously.

          “We’ll see each other,” says Kira. “I don’t live that far away from here, you know. Plus, we can both drive. So we can visit each other all the time.”

          “I know,” Clary sighs. “It will just suck, is all. I’m gonna miss you.”

          “I’ll miss you too,” says Kira.

          She’s still hovering over Clary slightly, so Clary has to lean up to press another soft kiss to her mouth. Kira sighs against her. When it’s over, she lays back down by her side. Clary finds her hand again and fits their fingers back together, and with her free hand she plays idly with Kira’s pinky. A silence falls over the room like a blanket, thick and heavy, and Kira knows their minds are dwelling on the same thing. Clary knows what loss feels like just as surely as Kira does, and Kira feels their looming parting just as strongly at Clary does, and she doesn’t know what to say to make it all go away. Clary’s always been better at words than she has.

          Then, like a magic spell come to life at Kira’s behest, Clary leans over and presses her lips to Kira’s bare shoulder. Against her skin, Kira feels her speak.

          “I love you.”

          Kira doesn’t say anything for a long moment. Then Clary pulls back, and her face is open and beautiful, and her hair is messy, and her mouth is red, and she is so stunning, and for once Kira knows exactly what to say. She leans in and presses her lips to Clary’s, and against them she whispers back the words.

          After, they lean their foreheads together and close their eyes, and their thumbs rub against each other where they rest, entwined, above the covers. The silence is more peaceful than before, but Kira knows they have only suspended the worry for a moment.

          Out of the blue, Clary speaks again.

          “Of course we’ll be okay,” she says quietly. “We’re Kira and Clary.”

          Kira laughs, just as quiet. Like a prayer, like a promise, she repeats it back to her.

          “We’re Kira and Clary.”

**Author's Note:**

> SO THIS IS THE FIRST OFFICIAL CROSSOVER FIC I'VE EVER WRITTEN LMAO. hope you enjoyed xoxo
> 
>  
> 
> [my tumblr's @ bkinney](http://bkinney.tumblr.com/post/144164747415)


End file.
